Saturday, June 27, 2009

Birthday!

I had my birthday on Thursday, and it couldn't have been a more perfect day for going outside. I had a short shift at B&N in the morning, where my amazing co-workers were kind enough to sing "Happy Birthday" to me over the loudspeakers before we opened, and treated me to a fancy coffee (my preferred white chocolate mocha!) and lots of b-day hugs. Afterwards, I got to go to my favorite local breakfast place- Uncle Louis Cafe- for some french toast deliciousness before heading up the shore for some lovely climbing!We went to Palisade Head, since we didn't want to climb anything below a 5.9. Started off on one of my favorites- the beautiful 5.9 crack Phantom Crack- as a good warm up, then decided to try some stuff that was a little more out of the way that I haven't done yet. Above is me on Rapprochement, a tricky 5.10b where I got stuck on the move above the crux (hardest part), naturally. I did enjoy it though, a tricky little corner climb. My favorite of the day, however, was Laceration Jam- an incredible 5.10b beautiful hand crack that I can't wait to lead. Laceration has two parts- the bottom section that I cruised before it splits off into two different cracks- Laceration traverses over to the right for a lead-only section, while the left crack (the one I did) is a different crack called Christmas Tree Crack. I have to admit, after that gorgeous hand crack I thought Christmas Tree was a little on the dirtier side, with more loose gravel and the hand crack turned into more off-width (crack that you have to stick an arm or a leg in to get up- not nearly as nice), but it was still worth it just to do Laceration.The day was beautiful, and I'm so glad I got to go out to the cliffs! It was a little on the warm side for me- up to 80 degrees, uff-da!- but the breeze made it bearable for belaying, and the later it got the more it started to cool off. After my hands had properly been beaten like crazy, it was time to head back into town for BIRTHDAY CAKE!!!!This year the boys went all out- the guy I'm making the chalk bag for, Tyler, has a connection- his Mom professionally makes cakes. She made me this beautiful raspberry layered cake with home-made frosting- no sugar in the frosting at all, and it was light and fluffy and exactly what the best type of frosting tastes like! I was in heaven.Overall, a grand birthday that made turning 24 not bad at all. A big thanks to Tyler for being my belay-buddy, although he probably loved going out there anyway. As climbers, we take what we can get...Project update later...